President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders issued following his inauguration.
After being sworn in as US president again, Donald Trump wasted no time in using his powers to act on a range of policy priorities.
Immigration
President Trump has proclaimed that “America’s sovereignty is under attack”, declaring this to be a national emergency that allows him to free up more funding to reinforce the border with Mexico.
Closing the border
The president has told the military to “seal the borders” – citing the flow of illicit drugs, human smuggling and crime relating to crossings.
Birthright citizenship
Donald Trump has ordered that officials deny the right to citizenship to the children of migrants either in the US illegally or on temporary visas.
Terrorism designation for gangs and cartels
The president has designated drug cartels and international gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.
‘Remain in Mexico’ and no more ‘catch and release’
Donald Trump has re-implemented his “Remain in Mexico” policy from his first term. This returned about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers across the border to await hearings, before being cancelled by President Joe Biden.
The order also shut down a major Biden-era immigration pipeline: a sponsorship initiative that allowed up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly to the US.
Death penalty for some immigrant criminals
Donald Trump has ordered that the federal death penalty be reinstated. It would apply to any “capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country” and anyone convicted of murdering a law-enforcement officer.
Refugee resettlement
Donald Trump has suspended the US refugee resettlement programme, though details remain unclear.
Climate and energy
Pull out of the Paris agreement (again)
President Trump has signed off on withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement – the landmark international deal to limit rising global temperatures. He previously withdrew in 2017, before Joe Biden re-entered.
Alaskan fuel
He signed an executive order titled “unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential”, pledging to “unlock” oil, gas and other natural resources from the state.
World Health Organization
Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from the UN’s health body, the WHO.
This marks the second time Donald Trump has ordered the US be pulled out of the WHO, after Biden re-entered it. He was critical of how the Geneva-based institution handled Covid-19.
Diversity and gender
Transgender people
Trump has declared that the US will only recognize “two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality”.
DEI
Trump has also halted all “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programmes within the federal government – labelling them “radical and wasteful”.
TikTok
Donald Trump has signed a directive postponing by 75 days the implementation of a law that would ban TikTok in the US. TikTok had briefly been shut the day before the inauguration, to comply with the law – which demands that a new American owner be found.